Gregory Leffel

A missiologist by training and a scholar-practitioner at heart, Greg has served in various ministry and academic roles for more than forty years. As a missiologist — a species of theologian studying the intersection of Christian faith and the wider public — his research and writing center around issues related to social change and social movements, activism, and socio-cultural studies, as well as theology and social theory. He earned his Ph.D. in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary in the United Methodist tradition, and served there as adjunct professor for eight years. Greg is past president of both the American Society of Missiology and the Association of Professors of Mission. ASM and APM are broadly ecumenical organizations bringing together voices from mainline and evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

He is author of Faith Seeking Action: Mission, Social Movements, and the Church in Motion; and co-author of The Not On Our Watch Christian Companion: Biblical Reflections on the Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond.

In 1997 Greg founded Communality, a missional community in Lexington, Kentucky. During its 15 year life, Communality nurtured seminary students and lay leaders in alternative forms of ministry and service to the city, including community development, environmental justice, urban agriculture, and community mental health. Communality was an informal crossroads, intersecting with many significant recent movements of church reform such as missional church renewal, the emerging post-evangelical church, neo-monastic community-based social justice, Native American contextual theology, radical discipleship, and post-Christendom theologies.

For a sample of Greg’s work and emerging ideas, click on the link below to see the full text of his 2016 Presidential Address to the American Society of Missiology.

The Missiology of Trouble: Liberal Discontent and Metamodern Hope

And to see Greg’s book Faith Seeking Action, click here. Faith Seeking Action — 10 Year Anniversary

William Kenney

For two decades Bill has divided his time between the street, walking with and serving the homeless, and the research desk as a philosopher. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina where he earned a B.A. (cum laude) and won the Josiah Morse Award for undergraduate work in philosophy. He received the M.Div. degree with a focus on the philosophy of religion from Asbury Theological Seminary in the United Methodist tradition. Bill’s research centers on emerging trends in speculative philosophy, social theory, the grounding of theology and missiology in philosophical thought, as well as the grounding of everyday life in philosophical ideas — bringing ideas into the service of people and their flourishing, and challenging all of us to think about what we are doing and what we believe.

Bill is a founding member of Communality, a missional community in Lexington, Kentucky, spending years working at the grass roots with homeless, mentally ill, incarcerated, and substance dependent populations. He has considerable experience brokering relationships between these populations and persons in mainstream society. This gives him a unique perspective on social issues and a skill set well suited to working with a wide array of communities, analyzing proposed and ongoing programs, and network and coalition building.